Claustrophobia
by Chya
Summary: The title summarises. Jessecentric.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: Many thanx to JillyW for the beta, all remaining mistakes are mine ***** Claustrophobia 

By Chya

The buildings flew by as Aluino headed downtown, determined not to fail his master under any circumstances; his pack was depending on him. Some part of him tracked his peripheral vision, but his focus was fixed unwaveringly on the derelict building that apparently housed the disk that was his target.

It came into sight and he picked up his pace, his senses alert, poised for attack, defence, whatever steps necessary to bring his prey, target, home. 

The loose and cracked old door barely slowed Aluino as he barrelled in, skidding to a stop in the dull empty space. Dust motes from his sudden entrance danced in the weak sunlight that filtered through the rough boards across what had once been the windows. Sniffing cautiously, there was only dust and mildew and - and something almost hidden. A sweet scent. Maybe a perfume or a cologne. 

A sound, a creak, a footfall so light a normal human would not have heard it. But he wasn't human and the sound marked someone's presence as surely as if they'd announced themselves. 

With a feral, toothy grin he crept towards the stairs, keeping low to the ground, his brown eyes blazing gold. 

His foot fell on the rotted rug before the lowest step. The wood creaked. A soft snap and Aluino knew his mistake as the metal bars slammed down to kill the last fibres of the rug. 

Trapped! 

One such as he could **never** be trapped. It quite simply went against his nature and he would fight to his death to be free. With a snarl he threw himself at the unyielding adamantium until the sickly sweet scent he'd barely sensed before viciously assaulted his sensitive nose. He twisted round to see two hooded ones, dark and silent behind him. 

They each raised a hand, the air sparked green pain and he knew no more.

 *****

Brennan squinted as he tried to get his head around exactly what Adam was saying. "So, this CD Jesse and Emma have gone after has data on how to rewrite someone's, uh… nervous system?"

"Something like that," Adam nodded encouragingly as Emma rolled her eyes. "According to Proxy Blue, someone, somewhere has taken the time to learn how to not only reprogram a person's brain, but also how to take over their neurological system remotely, almost all but autonomous function. It would be bad enough if done to a normal human, but just think of the potential damage - both literal and political - if mutants were subjected to this."

Brennan let the words wash over him and tried to find their meaning by sliding between them. He wasn't stupid by any means, but sometimes Adam had a knack of making him feel like a complete retard.

Shalimar leaned towards him and loudly whispered, "You get to go along for the ride while someone else plays with your sparky thing."

And when Shal said things like that, he felt **really** stupid. "I know that," he told her. "I'm not stupid you know."

"I know," Shalimar smiled, "but you looked kinda, um, tired. What **were** you and Jesse up to last night anyway? I turned in about four and you guys were still out."

Brennan looked at the ceiling and considered pleading the fifth, but settled for diversionary tactics instead. "Just teaching the kid how to play pool, is all. And anyway, if I'm the expert on discreet pick ups, why I am stuck here and not out there with Jesse and Emma?"

"Because they're just scouting. Seeing what it's all about," said Adam placatingly. "You're our ace in the hole which any guards, etcetera, won't have seen before. But while this is relatively risk free for Jesse and Emma, given their skills and the fact that they're not actually going to take anything, for you the risk factor will be far higher. And I'm quite simply not prepared to take that kind of risk with any of you until we know exactly what we face and can minimise those risks to an acceptable level."

"Right," Brennan snorted as he was almost sure he caught Shalimar smothering a smile. "Well," he muttered, "I still think it's not right and it's not fair."

"Come on." The blonde mutant ushered the elemental towards the kitchen, leaving Adam to monitor Jesse and Emma. "You'll have your turn soon enough."

"Yeah, I know, but…"

*****

"There has to be more to it than that," Emma giggled as she looked over Jesse's shoulder at the small, anonymous building nestled between its larger industrial neighbours. "I mean, you spent, like, nearly twelve hours showing the big lug how to play pool?"

"It's true." Jesse flashed her a quick smile. "Jump in my head and have a look if you don't believe me."

Emma tilted her head in thought a moment. "Nah. I'll just let you have your little secret. You'll tell eventually."

"Ya think?" 

"I know. So, what do you think about this place?"

"I think it's a waste of time checking it out. We should just go in with Brennan, get the disk and get out. Security is nowhere near as tight as Proxy Blue made out." Jesse paused before turning back to the brunette. "Did it seem to you like Proxy Blue was kinda off somehow?"

"You mean that she didn't sound like herself? That the snarky comments were missing?"

"Yeah," nodded Jesse, thoughtfully, "something like that."

"Maybe. Or maybe she just has a conscience."

"That'll be the day," Jesse snorted. "You coming?"  

It really was far too easy for Emma to send the one dozy old guard to sleep. The security seemed to be primarily technical with pressure pads, hot, cold and electro magnetic sensors and slides, with manual systems being protected by thumbprint and computer codes. 

Emma used the thick tape to pick up a clear thumbprint and carefully stored it, keeping watch while maintaining a light link to monitor Jesse's progress as the lithe young man effortlessly slid through doors and walls until he found the CD in the central safe.

There was a computer set into the wall next to the safe, and having checked the floor was clear of pressure pads and the walls clear of lasers, Jesse unphased. As soon as his weight settled, an audible click sounded followed by an electric whirring.

Bullets ripped through the air as the automatic machine guns focussed on the intruder, saturating the area with lead, and Jesse shuddered as the hot metal bounced off his massed form, thanking his lucky stars for the lightening reflexes that made him change before the first bullets hit.

But now he was out of options. He hadn't counted on the floor itself being one enormous pressure pad that set the guns off, and he could feel it clicking beneath his heavier weight. Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it, but since they'd already been discovered Jesse decided it would be better to get the disk now. The computer had closed into a protective shell so, still massed, he tried putting his fist through the safe. 

He hadn't made contact when the floor shifted and he fell, heavily, straight down.

Emma screamed as her contact with Jesse, however superficial, was abruptly cut off. Heedless of her own proximity to the building that was now shaking and falling apart at the seams, she reached out to try and contact her colleague and friend.

There was nothing, not even the static of unconsciousness or coma. Only the nothingness of, of…

She wouldn't consider that, and forced herself calmer until she could get out of there. She ran, ignoring the shout of the rudely awoken security guard, and didn't stop until her knees threatened to give out.

"Emma? Emma, talk to me. Where's Jesse? I can't pick him up." She slowly became aware of Adam's voice.

"I – I –" And as she allowed herself to think about what had happened, her emotions overloaded.

She never saw the Genomex flunkies filtering into the surrounding area.

*****

"Emma! Emma, listen to me! Where is Jesse?"

Adam clutched at the console as Emma's panicked grief projected and surged through him. 

"What was that?" cried Shalimar, as she charged in with Brennan hot on her heels.

"We need to go pick Emma up." Adam took a deep breath. "Something's happened to Jesse and it's got her spinning out of control."

Shalimar hissed, her eyes glowing as her feral nature sprang to the fore. "I'm gone." And she was, with Brennan loping behind her as Adam tried to talk Emma calm.

Brennan watched Shalimar carefully, both protective of her and a little scared, much as one would be around a much loved but angry cat. He marvelled at how wild she got when one of her 'family' were in trouble, and wondered if he could ever feel the same. Certainly he got pissed when someone he knew got hurt, but everything was always fine in the end - and even when it wasn't, it never really seemed to touch him to much. Jesse was probably stuck in a wall somewhere that Emma couldn't reach through. It wouldn't be the first time.

Of course, last time, he'd been there to free Jesse up before he'd died of asphyxiation, but that was a whole other story.

When they found Emma, she was somewhat calmer but cornered.  Brennan grinned, rippling his fingers and feeling the energy run true, his expression as feral in its own way as Shalimar's. He loved kicking ass, and who better than to take out any stress on than puppets that clearly originated from Genomex.

Shalimar positively glowed with energy, and the two of them made short work of the small group of armed men, leaving those that didn't flee in groaning heaps on the ground.

With no thought for tact or diplomacy, Brennan lifted Emma and carried her back to the Double Helix with Shalimar trailing, watching out for anyone following them.

*****

Jesse's first thought was that it was night. He fumbled for the light switch, but his hand knocked against something solid. Wherever he was it was absolutely dark, and feeling around, moving, he discovered that he was in a tightly enclosed space. 

The word for it crept into his mind, but he ignored it. Not going there.

He took a deep breath to push down the panic that was circling him along with **that** word. Then let it out as he willed himself light, molecules pushing through molecules in the manner that was phasing. And like the wrong side of a magnet, was repelled.

He couldn't phase through, and **that** word was circling closer. He fought against the panic, but it rose up hand in hand with his greatest fear and he could feel the oxygen running out, the walls pressing in and he was gonna die in here, in this tiny space and he was gone and forgotten and alone and no one was gonna rescue him and please let this be a nightmare, he didn't want to die like this in here in this, in this…

… coffin.

*****

Adam couldn't help but glare as Mason Eckhart came online. He wanted his missing team member back, and he wanted him back, hale, whole, hearty and now.

"There were GSA Agents at the scene, Mason, you must know something about it," Adam insisted when Eckhart denied all knowledge.

"Of course there were." Eckhart rolled his eyes, "I had as much interest in that disk as you did." He paused a moment as if considering whether to give out any information. Eventually, his mind made up, he continued. "You may be interested to know that one of my own agents disappeared yesterday, a feral. It may or may not be connected. Aluino Sorrelli. Send him back home if you come across him, would you?"

Eckhart signed off as Shalimar entered. "The bastard!" she spat. "He has to have Jesse, there isn't anywhere else he could be! I say we – "

"Shalimar, please!" Adam held up his hands. "There **are** other possibilities, and we have to eliminate them before doing anything rash." He took a breath. "I happen to believe he's telling the truth. Perhaps not all of it, but enough that I don't think he's behind Jesse's disappearance."

*****

The walls were closing in, he could feel them, he was sure of it, a millimetre at a time, exerting a microscopically slow pressure on him, forcing all breath from his body. 

The air was growing warmer adding to the tight feeling in his chest, all as a result of the oxygen being used up. 

Again and again, he tried to phase, to mass, banging the sides, kicking and shouting. He'd tried carefully feeling around for air holes, hinges, cracks, anything that might be a weakness he could exploit. But with nothing there, just this hard, seamless, repellent capsule, he was giving in to the hysteria that was trying so hard to consume him. 

He'd defeated this once before, but at least he'd been able to see out, at least someone had talked to him, he'd not been entirely alone. 

Not one fear at work here, but many. Claustrophobia, but oh, what an umbrella that was. Sheltering fear of loneliness, fear of abandonment, fear of fading away, fear of drowning, suffocation and darkness.

Of being left alone in a darkness where no one can hear you scream.

*****

Brennan and Shalimar scoped out the building where Jesse disappeared. The GSA were crawling all over it, and Brennan found himself standing alone as Shalimar bounded away in search of prey to take out her worry and frustration on.

His long strides making up ground on her feline glide, he wished that the feral would give the GSA Agents time to answer her repeated questioning - where is he, what have you done with him, etc. - before breaking their kneecaps.

Lashing out at a couple himself who tried back attacks, Brennan caught one in a choke hold, threatening with sparking fingers to taser his prisoner's face.

Finally, after reducing the man to a terrified, whimpering lump on the ground, Brennan - and more importantly Shalimar - were convinced that the GSA were as much in the dark about the disk, Jesse and their own missing feral as they were.

*****

With Mr Eckhart's calming presence behind her, Sandra extended her senses out. Born blind and deaf, her mutancy ironically gave her the ability to see and hear using someone else's mind. Her psionic ability didn't allow her to control, merely sit inside her target's head and monitor what they heard and saw.

Out of the two Mutant X team members that had materialised, the female was too chaotic for Sandra to be comfortable with, whereas the man was less complicated.   So she chose to use him to eavesdrop. 

*****

Searching the building thoroughly after the GSA had departed, there was no evidence as to where Jesse might have gone.  This left both Shalimar and Brennan immensely frustrated.

A newly collapsed floor below a wall riddled with bullet holes was the only indication of any activity at all. 

On a hunch, Brennan dug out a couple of the bullets. They were squashed from the impact, but Adam might be able to make something of them. 

They searched and searched again, looking for the smallest of clues, but eventually even Shalimar had to concede that there was nothing there to be found.

*****

Jesse had long given in to panic and hysteria, the air thick and heavy now, every breath a fight for survival. He actually caught himself a couple of times begging for his mom to come and let him out, amidst promises to behave. 

The bottom fell out of his dark world with a crash of freezing air and disorienting noise, teeth and claws flashing in his face as he instinctively massed, feeling hard claws raking ineffectually across impermeable skin.

Whatever his opponent was, it was fast and furious, giving him no quarter to catch breath or retaliate. A massed boot below the belt, a glancing blow, but enough to give him time to breathe and phase before the rabid furball was on him again, snarling and gnashing, shredding and tearing, intent on ripping his throat out. 

A glimpse of a reddened eye full of anger and fear-filled hysteria that echoed his own. Fuelled his own. Here was something he could take out the strain and pent up rage he hadn't realised he was holding inside on.  So he retaliated, discarding his toughened shell in favour of the more agile phasing, using the monster's own momentum against it and hitting back. He gained a few gashes for his trouble but finally got the upper hand.

Pinning the other to the ground, Jesse pulled himself up short with horror. He was putting the feral, for that is what the young man glaring at him through golden eyes had to be, through one of his own fears. Throttling him to death, seeing the golden eyes faded to dark brown as he weakened. So he let him breathe.

Looking around him, he discovered they were in a plain grey room with only one entrance. Or exit. And it was wide open for them to take; a trap, surely, but a risk worth taking if staying here meant being ensnared or put back into the coffin. But what to do about the feral?

"Come on then, hotshot, finish me off," the feral challenged.

Jesse looked at him curiously, then shrugged. "Not my style. So how did you get in here. Collapsing floor and a coffin, perchance?"

The other man laughed sharply. "Green fire and cage," he replied. "I guess you're not one of the hooded ones, then."

Jesse blinked, "Uh, not that I know of. Hooded ones?"

The feral shrugged. "Two people in cloaks and hoods. Thought they might be Mutant X, but didn't fit the profile."

Now it was Jesse's turn to laugh. "Yeah, well, they don't sound like Mutant X to me. So, what about you?"

"Ah hell," the feral relaxed and rolled his eyes. "**You're Mutant X!" he declared. "The molecular." He looked straight at Jesse, "Would you kill me if I told you I was GSA?"**

Jesse grimaced and tightened his hold again. "Would you kill me if I suggested a truce until we got out of here?"

The feral sighed. "Until we get out of here, but I don't trust you."

Jesse let go again. "Yeah well, I don't trust you either," he said, getting off the other man, "but I guess we gotta start somewhere." He offered his hand. "Call me Jesse," he said, frowning at the rivulets of blood that seemed to be running from somewhere up his arm.

The feral grinned, exposing vicious canines. "Call me Al," he said, shaking Jesse's hand briefly, then nodding towards the molecular's arm. "You should see to that."

*****

"This is hopeless!" Shalimar fumed as they trawled the streets, interrogating lowlifes and Genomex back door contacts. There was nothing, no clue, not even any bizarre stories.

Brennan whole-heartedly agreed with her and said so. "To be honest, I think the only person who can help us find Jesse, is Jesse," he said.

Shalimar spun on him angrily. "And what if he can't? What if he's lying unconscious somewhere? Locked in a pod, or, or, whatever!" 

"I don't know what else we can do, Shal," Brennan said, his own frustration clear in his voice. He knew that Shalimar regarded Jesse as close family but, surprising even himself, Brennan had found himself looking upon the younger man as a kid brother, one who needed looking out for, not because he was incapable - far from it in fact - but by virtue of simply being the kind of kid brother he would maybe have liked to have had. The kind he knew he could rib mercilessly, but God forbid anyone else so much as hint at saying a bad thing against him, the kind who brought his protective instincts out even as he knew he trusted Jesse to watch his back in return.

So, not to put too fine a point on it, he was almost as worried as Shalimar, and trying his best to be the level headed one. "We should keep looking, though," he said finally, and Shalimar nodded.

"Better than sitting on our hands doing nothing," she agreed.

*****

Jesse flexed his fingers in a conscious effort not to fuss with the torn shirt that acted as a makeshift bandage over the long gash on the outside of his upper right arm. Blood was seeping through, but he was hoping that he'd be able to get it seen to properly sooner rather than later.

He and Al had settled into a somewhat nervous silence, neither really trusting the other, yet united in their trepidation of what might still befall them.  They were in some form of tunnelling, superficially prefabricated and portable, but when Jesse had tried to phase through he'd found old brickwork where the makers of this maze had used existing works, probably sewers. He'd reluctantly phased though brick and into rock and earth as far as he'd dared before being forced to go back by the looming threat of suffocation, an experience which only added to his high levels of anxiety. Underground tunnels, coffins and phasing into the never-never were all aspects of a deeply ingrained phobia, and although he was managing to **do** and to **cope** on the face of it, his nerves were stringing out and fraying, leaving him tense and jumpy.

Al wasn't doing much better, either. His personal theme of entrapment was exacerbated every time they hit a dead end, or worse, one of those sudden hidden doors dropped down behind them to close off one path, forcing them to choose another. 

Neither one of them expressed the idea that they were being herded towards some unknown, yet dreaded fate.

Various obstacles along the way hindered their progress, but forced the trust between them to grow. Al picked up the smell of gas long before Jesse's all too human senses would have and steered them clear of a small explosion in one tunnel. A portion of tunnel collapsing and Jesse, massed, protecting Al from the potentially lethal debris.

One dead end slammed a wall down on them, leaving them trapped in a small space, something that had freaked them both out. Calming himself, Jesse had phased through each wall, finding two doors, the one they'd come through and another that had a lock on the outside, which he used to let Al out.

A little later they'd been cornered by a large wolfhound, which Al had quickly dispatched with flash of gold and a long growl.

Now, they'd reached another dead end.  There was a fork they could go back to so they could explore the other tunnel, but they were exhausted, hungry and thirsty. The air was just a touch on the warm side, but the slow dehydration served to make it seem warmer. 

Deciding to rest for a while, they propped each other up and tried not to go so far as to fall asleep.

Jesse wiped a hand across a slightly grimy brow, wincing at the greasy feeling of dry sweat.

"Hey," said Al, "you know, I just thought. You didn't have to stay with me. You could've used your phasing thing to go your own way. Could've been out of here by now."

Jesse shrugged; he hadn't really thought about it. Once they'd called a temporary truce, Al had been a part of his team, and it simply never occurred to him to leave a team mate behind. He might've thought about it if the feral had pointed it out as an option, but he would still never have left him, it went against his sense of duty. "We don't leave team-mates behind," was all he said. "And besides, you bring your own skills to this."

Al snorted. "Your solid self would have dealt with any of that."

"Don't put yourself down," Jesse told him. "Sure, the massing and phasing things give me a certain advantage, but that advantage is kinda dependant on me knowing about the danger in the first place." He gestured to his throbbing arm, blood leaking from under the bandage. "You did some serious damage and my power has some pretty huge weaknesses."

Al grinned then winced. "Sorry about that, was kinda freaked."

"Huh! Like you were the only one!" Jesse rolled his eyes.

"I guess I'm just used to the pack thing," Al explained. "Never really done anything as an individual."

As Jesse looked at Al now, he suddenly realised how very young the other man seemed. Maybe twenty at the most. "So, you grew up at Genomex?"

Al nodded. "Pretty much, yeah. Orphaned at five and they took me in." He yawned. 

As Jesse's yawn followed, he struggled to his feet. "No falling asleep, we don't know what might happen. We need water and we need to get out of here. Not necessarily in that order." He held out his hand.

Al took it and stood up. "You first!"

*****

"I can't believe that there's nothing!" Adam growled, throwing his hands up in anger and storming across the lab. "We don't even know where to start!"

Emma tried to project some sense of calm over Adam's agitation, but only earned a snapped order to stop it. Pursing her lips, she strengthened her shields against his self-recrimination, annoyed because doing so reduced any remote chance of picking something up from Jesse. It didn't reduce the chance by more than a fraction but, as far as she was concerned, every fraction counted, and shielding was better than the interference generated by his emotions.

"Please Adam," she begged in her softest, youngest voice, "we need to have faith. Jesse will come back to us, one way or another.  He's too stubborn not to." She wished she believed her own words but, although no word of it was a lie, she couldn't erase the awful emptiness in her sub-conscious where Jesse should be. Everyone she held dear had a spot like that, and she could feel Brennan and Shalimar in the distance, exhausting themselves in futile searching, Adam here and loud, and in the far distance one or two other loved ones long missed but safe. 

"I know," Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. "And I'm sorry, it's just… even the bullets Brennan and Shalimar brought in had no identifying marks, and the little detail we could get from the rifling was just too generic to trace. Everything seems to be conspiring against us!"

"You're just angry and frustrated, like we all are - and worried." Emma was placating as she felt him get himself back under control. "Why don't we get a cocoa or something, take five."

Adam smiled. "You're too good to me sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, someone has to be," Emma returned blithely. And unspoken she completed that thought. 'Because I won't let you compromise any chance of finding Jesse.'

*****


	2. Chapter 2

"Gas!" Al said. "Behind us, but…" He hesitated until Jesse prompted him. "It's not normal gas, maybe nerve gas or something."

"Well, I guess running is our only option."

"You could phase," Al offered. as they sprinted forward.

Jesse shuddered involuntarily. "Only as a last resort," he replied.

Then they skidded into a narrow dead end. Embedded in the wall was an upright coffin not dissimilar to the one he'd been in before, complete with oxygen mask. 

"Get in." Jesse's tone brooked no argument. 

Al blinked at him. "B-but what about you?" he asked, slightly incredulously.

Jesse smiled wryly. "Remember what you said about my powers? I have a greater advantage than you." And there is no way in hell I'm getting in that box, he thought.

Al swallowed hard as he contemplated the coffin. "I, ah…" 

Jesse shoved him hard. "Now is not the time to be shy!" Al stumbled toward the coffin and stepped inside. "If you get out before I do," he told the feral, "do me a favour and tell Mutant X, uh… tell them I miss them, okay?"

Al nodded as a door slammed down, cutting the feral off from him.

Jesse's eyes started to tear as the invisible gas started to reach him. He tried to phase into the walls but was repelled, and he sank to his knees as his breathing became laboured, trying to figure the odds of surviving phasing into the gas.

Fortunately, another door slammed down, separating him from the gas. Another door that repelled his phasing abilities as he discovered the bad news - the ambient lighting vanished and the walls, floor and ceiling quite literally closed in on him.

*****

Aluino wasn't entirely certain what happened next. One moment he was being shut in a coffin and breathing through the oxygen mask, and the next he was being forcibly ejected out into the night to roll down a short rocky incline and land in a heap at the bottom. 

The building he'd come out from was low and small, certainly not even close to big enough to account for all the tunnels. It seemed to be just a small aluminium hut on a vacant lot in one of the industrial parks, and he figured that the coffin must have been an elevator of sorts.

But where was the other guy and what had all that been about anyhow? 

He hesitated, hugging his bruises as he considered the Mutant X guy who was probably still down there. There was nothing he could do. Except maybe contact Mutant X.

But everything he'd ever been taught about Mutant x painted them as the bad guys. 

Except that Jesse hadn't been.

Hitting the streets, Al didn't really know where he was going. Home to Genomex wasn't quite an option because that would eliminate any possibility of getting Mutant X to help their friend. Tired beyond belief, hurting, cold and miserable, he tried to recall what he'd heard about the group.

They ran the Underground and there was a way to contact them if you wanted help.

He should try that maybe.

*****

Cold metal walls pressed in on all sides, yet it was a cold that couldn't permeate the heat of the air, of his skin and blood, of his mind.

The walls had stopped moving once the space had reduced to this box, six foot high by three foot wide by two foot deep, but his mind kept imagining that they were still moving. The pure darkness, and absolute silence, the kind that soaked up the sounds he made himself, it was all suffocating even without the air getting thinner.

This wasn't the same coffin he'd been in before, wasn't the same coffin Al had vanished into. This was a box, but with the same field that repelled him as the coffin had done.

He was able to hold on for a while this time, sure that he'd be let out at some point. There had to be a purpose to all this lab rat stuff they'd been put through. The challenges presented had been geared towards Al and himself, which gave him food for thought, but didn't really help him right now.

Once again he searched for any weak points, called out, hit and kicked with massed foot and fist.

Once again to no effect.

And as time crawled by with no hint of respite, his throat dry and parched, the realisation crept home that he was trapped.

Terminally.

*****

Shalimar and Brennan met the new day with a new bout of optimism and hope as they started their search from scratch.

In a back alley, sometime around lunchtime, Shalimar scented something that was Jesse, yet not Jesse, and took off after it, Brennan hot on her heels

Came to a skip with cardboard boxes piled up next to it. 

Found the body covered in rotting lettuce leaves. Wasn't Jesse, but there was his scent about. Touched the body lightly, life still there, but – 

Flash of gold, teeth and claws, but Shalimar was ready, her own hackles on end with tension as the body sprang to life. Shalimar was almost disappointed when the body gave in so easily. She would love to have had an excuse to rip its head off, but at the same time she needed to find out why it smelled of her friend and teammate.

Brennan pulled her off it and she blinked, steadying herself as she realised that the young man was cowering, whimpering with fear. Convinced that there was no threat, her protective instinct came leaping out as she took in the battered and dirty frame, the drawn lines of his face and complete terror in his eyes.

She asked if he'd seen her friend and he asked if they were Mutant X. She nodded yes, and she didn't need Emma's powers to feel the relief pouring off him. He'd been coming to find them, but collapsed before getting very far.

That said, he promptly passed out again and, supported by Brennan's able grasp, they took him back to Sanctuary.

*****

With nothing left to focus on, other than the oppressive heat that had him sweating and shivering by turns, Jesse became lost in whatever memories and hallucinations his feverish mind chose to throw up.

While his air supply was low, it never actually seemed to disappear, but breathing was definitely something he had to work at. He had visions of himself massing and phasing uncontrollably, but was no longer aware enough to determine whether that was real or not.

Visions of being locked in the basement closet haunted him. He'd only ever been locked in there when he was bad, his mother trusting his sense of honour not to use his freaky powers to escape. And he'd only ever been forgotten the once. He'd kept calling and calling, much like he was now, and no one heard him then either.

And then there was the time the tree house fell out of the tree.  It was his special place, but it had got broken in a recent storm and he wasn't allowed in it until Dad had fixed it. But Dad was always away doing important stuff. so he went in it anyway, and when it collapsed all he could see was this tree falling on top of him.  He didn't get hurt but he was stuck, and that was before the phasing part of his power had developed. And he shouted for help but no one had come until after it stopped raining.

His throat was burning, and he couldn't hear himself any more. And the more he couldn't hear himself, the louder and more urgently he tried to shout.

He could feel sweat running down his face, but when he went to wipe it away there was only dry greasy skin.

He was having trouble working out which way was up; even stamping his feet didn't seem to help any more. And he couldn't stand it, and the more he couldn't stand it the more his mind delved into his well of unwanted memories.

*****

Shalimar checked out the lot that Aluino claimed to have escaped from. She researched the land's history and verified the fact that there were old disused tunnels below that entire part of town, but there was no trace of ownership of the property. It didn't even seem to exist electronically. Yet, there it was, between the Walmart and FedEx distribution hubs.

Aluino himself was doing fine, dehydration and exhaustion being his primary problems; the scrapes and bruises, which were quite alarming to look at, had proved to be mostly superficial. While Shalimar was researching, the other feral was inhaling sandwiches in the kitchen with Emma, but although the telempath seemed confident in Al's legitimacy, Shalimar couldn't help but feel somewhat suspicious. He was being far too helpful, even though everything he'd said so far had panned out.

Perhaps it was the dog in the other feral's DNA that produced the over-abundance of helpfulness at the same time as rubbing her feline side up the wrong way. Whatever the case may be, this was the only lead they had to get Jesse back and, with that prize at stake, she'd keep her suspicions to herself and watch Al very carefully.

*****

There was more than enough rough ground for the Double Helix. With the cloaking shield on they left it there, hidden and secure in the open, while they investigated the small silver shed.

There was no evidence of any presence, no one that Emma could feel or either of the ferals could scent. Only a simple padlocked door stood between them and entry, and Brennan built a small ball of energy inside the lock until it popped open from the force.

The inside was a single room permeated by a sickly sweet scent that had Shalimar wrinkling her nose at the overpowering aroma, bare but for a computer terminal and two more doors that couldn't possibly lead anywhere. Only when they opened the doors did they realise that one wall was false with enough depth to hold small elevators, like a man sized dumb waiter. Two of them.

One was brightly lit with LCD displays, while the other was dark and bare. It was the latter that had Aluino trembling, sweat breaking out on his upper lip as he identified it as being a part of his prison.

Adam worked the computer, but initially he could make neither head nor tail of the displays, the script being unfamiliar to him. More by trial and error he found himself looking at the coloured silhouettes of humanoid figures on the screen.  There were a handful of these figures in boxes, and Adam took an educated guess that if the thing was a thermal spectrograph, which seemed most likely, then in all probability most of the bodies were the bright green of cold death. Only one was bright red and moving.

*****

They had to use the elevator one at a time with Adam staying in the shed, just in case of anything going wrong. Aluino volunteered to stay too, but Shalimar was most insistent that he accompany them, citing his previous experience as a possible advantage, to which Adam agreed.

The elevator let them out at the wall of blank metal doors. The com rings didn't work down here, so they'd brought cell-phones which turned out to be equally useless. Without Adam to instruct them on which door Jesse was behind, they worked methodically from one end to the other.

When they opened the last occupied cell and Jesse fell to the floor, Emma cried out in pain. The cell was clearly shielded and the shock of the raging emotions that were pouring out of the young man convulsing on the floor was abrupt and almost too much for her to bear.

A sense of déjà vu hit Shalimar as she knelt over Jesse, trying to calm him down. His eyes were unfocussed, wild and terrified, his pallor grey with high fever spots as he shook violently, phasing and massing with random ferocity. She yelled at him to calm down, but he didn't seem to hear her. It was Brennan who brought the proceedings to a sudden halt with a carefully charged, timed and placed taser that stunned the molecular enough to give sufficient stability for Emma to administer a sedative.

*****

Brennan was the last back up, Shalimar having gone first followed by Jesse's unconscious form. Emma had taken a little time before she went to recompose herself, holding onto Brennan with her eyes closed as she'd fought to put her windswept emotions back in order.

Now he squashed himself into the miniature elevator and rode it back up to the surface. The relief that they'd felt upon finding Jesse alive had been severely tempered by his state. Brennan was born competitive and it had been natural for him to consider Jesse an opponent from the word go, but somehow, even when Brennan had the winning edge, the shorter, lither, faster man always managed to make him feel like some great lumbering elephant. And that had only stoked Brennan's determination and biting edge more.

Now, however, for all his strength and the power at his disposal, with that competitiveness gone he simply felt useless.

The elevator door opened, and Brennan was snapped out of his reverie by the set faces of his companions held at bay by the trench-coated agents of Genomex.

Mason Eckhart smiled benignly. "Finally, we've all arrived," he said.

******

Mom let him out of the closet, but she was crying again. She was always crying and he hated that. Hated that he did things to make her cry. Wasn't certain exactly what it was he did, but she'd yell at him and lock him away, and then she'd be crying.

It was usually when there were visitors. She always told him to keep out of the way. Let him do anything he liked so long as he kept out of the way. Sometimes her visitor would see him, and that's when she'd yell at him. Sometimes the visitor would hit her and he didn't like that, and that's when she got really upset and she'd lock him up and then go drink and forget to let him out.

There were different kinds of visitors, that much he figured out. Sometimes it didn't matter if he was seen, would even be introduced to them, but on those occasions Mom told him that he mustn't, not ever, show his secret powers. His grandparents told him that too.

As he grew older, he'd found it funny and not a little ironic that his punishment for any infractions, real or imagined, was to be locked up. The one thing that with his special talents he could escape from at any time.

But that didn't help him when he was scared and Mom was crying, and he wished that Dad could stop being a superhero for just one day because Dad knew how to make Mom smile, and Mom hadn't smiled for a very long time.

*****

The moment Eckhart showed up with the blind girl at his side, Emma could sense her. Could sense her connection with Brennan.

This was how Genomex knew to be here. 

Then the anguish emanating from Aluino hit her, and she realised that this was his mate.  

Then the connection switched to her. There was nothing malevolent there, only a sense of wishful wanting. Emma projected her own love and worry for the people around her, channelled Aluino's anguish, and the girl withdrew, breaking her connection with both herself and Brennan.

*****

Brennan pulled up a ball of energy instinctively as he saw his team-mates held at bay. 

"Don't be ridiculous," Eckhart sneered, dismissively, "you can't do anything to me that won't affect your little friends." He waved around, and Brennan had to admit that the metal didn't allow for much selective control.

Unless he made the charge smaller. Much smaller.

People often made judgments by appearance, often assumed that because he was big, he was therefore brainless. But, while he might be lacking in scientific terminology, he was far from stupid.

He flipped a spark through the fingers of his left hand while holding his right hand flat on the computer monitor, his intention clear.

"Ah." Eckhart considered a moment. "I could just shoot you, you know."

"Sure," Brennan shrugged. "Kinda like Russian roulette. Will I get a spark off before I die? Or would my death kick off a residual charge? Who knows?"

There was a very long silence through which all sorts of paranoid thoughts passed through Brennan's brain, though he let none of them show. He was relying heavily on the idea that Eckhart had a tendency towards information kleptomania and would therefore badly want whatever this computer held.

Eckhart finally broke the silence. "Fine," he said. "Just, just get out. There will be other opportunities, I'm sure."

*****

Adam helped Shalimar carry Jesse out while Emma, Al and Brennan warily flanked them. One thing that he was sure of; whatever Mason's faults, he would make sure that any family of those corpses downstairs would be informed and taken care of in the most appropriate manner. Not to mention that the research opportunities at Genomex were far better than his own at Sanctuary.

Eckhart's people were already into the computer before Mutant X had gone through the door, while others made the single trips down into the tunnels.

Once outside, it was only Emma who didn't seem to be surprised when Al declared his intention to stay with his mate and his pack. The blind girl supporting Eckhart appeared at the doorway to the shed, silently holding a hand out towards him.

Al seemed hesitant, but in the end his decision was made. He thanked them for their help, and moved back to the building to take her hand and draw her close. Al frowned slightly, then said, "Sanctuary's safe. Just get Jesse well, okay?"

*****

He'd reached that place where nothing could hurt him, put distance between his mind and thought. He could remain here forever if necessary; even recalled the first time he'd done it and how he'd thought it was going to be forever.

Then he saw the old wrinkled faces of his grandparents right in front of him, though they seemed a million miles away, telling him he could come out, that he didn't need to hide anymore. He remembered that. Remembered that that had been the last time he'd had to lock himself away so tightly he'd needed help to find his way back. And he felt a kind of peace knowing that.

That had been the time when they'd told him his mother would be going away for a little while, that he'd be staying with them. He'd never been able to figure out how his grandparents locking him in his bedroom had been any different from his mother locking him in the basement closet, but he figured that he must deserve it. 

They hadn't let him see his mother then, but he'd snuck back inside after they'd told him to stay in the car. There had been shouting, Gramps telling her that what she was doing to the child was wrong, and he'd never forget her face just then. He'd seen her weep before, a lot of times, usually when she was saying sorry and right before she got the ice cream out. But this time she crying, really crying hard, and she was begging Gramps not to take him away, and he wanted to go and hug her like he knew she liked.

But the moment he stepped into the room, Nana swept him up and took him back out to the car. He could hear Mom calling for him, and called back. She needed him to hug her, he knew that, he tried to tell them that she'd be better then, but they wouldn't let him. He and Nana waited in the car until the ambulance came and took Mom away.

And then Nana and Gramps took him to their house and locked him in his new bedroom until he learned to behave. All he really learned to do was find other ways of escaping.

*****

"How's he doing?" Shalimar asked, as she joined Adam at the doorway to Jesse's bedroom.

"Same as the last time you asked," Adam sighed. "Sleeping, nightmares. Nothing unexpected."

She looked at the twitching form of her best friend and team-mate and remarked, "He looks a lot better. I guess he just needed the fluids."

"And sleep," Adam said. "He's beyond exhaustion. I just wish I knew what he was dreaming about. I get the feeling I should know." 

"And that really bothers you." A statement, not a question. "What about the kidnappers. Do we have anything on them yet?"

Adam shook his head. "Emma and Brennan are still researching, but I don't think we'll ever know - until or unless we come across them again."

"Well, I've just had a couple of hour's sleep, so I'll go spell them."

"Don't want to stay here? Keep an eye on Jesse?" Adam asked surprised.

Shalimar hesitated. "No," she said, "I don't think I want to add paranoia to his nightmares. He's asleep, not comatose, and I think he needs to keep as much of his dignity intact as possible right now."

"You're probably right," Adam replied thoughtfully.  "I should go – "

"No, you stay. It's not the same, you're allowed to be here. Just let us know when he wakes up, okay?"

*****

He'd been bad. He knew he'd been bad, but thought it completely unfair because it wasn't something he could control.

His grandparents, like his mother before them, always told him never to show his powers to anyone. And that went double for luncheon today. They introduced him to someone who it would do him good to know, who'd make sure he was a shoe-in for Harvard. Not that he would be old enough to go for another few years, but it was good to network from as early as possible.

It wasn't his fault that his stupid powers had chosen to go on the fritz over the soufflé. He'd always been able to go hard, but this new ghost thing was happening too and he couldn't stop himself from ghosting and getting heavy again and he thought he was going to disappear forever and it **hurt**. 

The second it had stopped, leaving him weak, shaking and disoriented on the floor, Gramps'd had his man take him up and lock him in the bathroom.  So that was how he knew he'd been bad. 

Because he was locked up again.

And everything was going out of control again.

And it **hurt**. Again.

*****

"How are you holding up?" Brennan asked Emma, concerned by the dark circles under her eyes.

"I'm fine," she sighed. "I'll just be glad when Jesse wakes up. He's projecting so much."

"So much what?" Brennan asked, not because he was interested, but more because he was protective of Emma, everyone's little sister.

She shook her head. "Not for me to tell. Suffice to say that until he stops, I won't be walking into any dark closets."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter." Emma smiled as Shalimar glided in.

"So, what's up?" the feral asked. "Found anything?"

"Not a clue," Brennan grumped. "How's sleeping beauty?"

Shalimar grinned and batted her eyelashes directly at Brennan. "Why, waiting for Prince Charming to kiss him awake of course!"

"Oh Shal!" Brennan protested, "Ewww!"

Emma collapsed in a fit of giggles, and Brennan swapped a telling glance with Shalimar. Good timing, she needed the break.

*****

They left him hurting in the bathroom all night.

And then they sent him away.

He hadn't understood why no one wanted him at first. 

But then Adam had taught him the word 'mutant' and promised him that he wouldn't let anyone lock him up anywhere ever again.

*****

"Jesse? Jesse, you back with us?" A blurry Adam was talking to him, and he tried to answer but his arched throat clicked dry.

A glass of water, and a brief instant's cold pain brought immeasurable relief. "You promised," he croaked.

"Promised what, Jesse?" Adam prompted, a faintly puzzled look on his face.

"You promised no one would lock me up again."

The light dawned on the older man's face right before it crumpled in regretful anguish. "Yeah, Jesse, I did. I tried, though, I did try."

"I know," said Jesse, "and it's okay. Really."

It had to be. Because he wasn't ten years old, his dad wasn't a superhero and, no matter what anyone promised, there were always people that wanted to lock freaks like him away.

*****

Two hooded figures stared at the view screen with some pleasure. 

Their experiment had been a success, and they'd found the team they needed to help them accomplish their own goals. It only remained to be seen whether the ruling council would agree with their choice and condone their plan to ask for their aid.

But, assuming the council gave its agreement, approaching Mutant X would have to wait until much, much later.

Until such time as the team members reached their mutant maturity.

FINIS


End file.
